Cushion cut
What the Certificate Leaves Out
On the least standardised shape in use, two identical reports can describe two stones that do not resemble each other and do not cost the same. Here is where the gap comes from.
Written by the Mapple Gems workshop, Surat ยท Updated 31 August 2026
Short answer
Three things explain nearly every cushion price gap and none of them is on the report: faceting style (crushed ice is cheaper to produce and lets a lower-grade stone pass), depth percentage (how much of the carat you can actually see), and, on a halo ring, the quality and matching of the melee. Add setting labour and you have accounted for the difference. The 4Cs are describing maybe half of what you are paying.
The general shape of a jewellery price โ stone, metal, labour, overhead, margin โ is covered in where the money goes. This is the narrower question: you are looking at two cushion quotes that should match and they do not.
1. Faceting style
The largest single factor, and the one that appears nowhere. Crushed ice stones are cheaper on two counts at once. They are more forgiving of the rough, so a cutter can produce one from material that would not make a good chunky stone. And they conceal colour and inclusions, so the same finished ring can be built from a lower-graded diamond.
A chunky, antique-proportioned cushion is a genuinely harder thing to source and cut. It needs cleaner, whiter material because it hides nothing, and its proportions waste more weight. Two 2 carat G VS2 cushions, one crushed ice and one chunky, are not the same product and should not be the same price.
Neither is better. But if you are comparing a cheap quote to an expensive one and nobody has told you which style each is, you are not comparing anything. How to tell them apart is the first question to settle.
2. Depth percentage
Cushions are cut deep. That is inherent to the shape โ the sparkle comes from a deep pavilion โ but there is a wide range of how deep, and the deeper end is where weight gets preserved at the expense of face-up size.
Two 2.00ct cushions can differ meaningfully in millimetres because one is carrying more of its weight below the girdle. Same price per carat, less visible stone. On a shape that already faces up small for its weight, this compounds: a deep cushion is the least stone-per-pound in the catalogue.
Ask for depth percentage and the millimetre measurements together, every time. If the millimetres look small for the weight, you have found the explanation for a keen price.
3. Melee, on a halo ring
Most cushions are sold in halos, and a halo is thirty to fifty small stones. Those stones can be well-matched near-colourless melee, or they can be whatever came in the parcel โ and the price difference across a halo is real.
It never shows in a photograph. On the finger, mismatched melee reads as one or two stones sitting warmer or greyer than their neighbours, usually toward the corners. Most people cannot name what is wrong; they simply find the ring looks less expensive than it cost. More on what to ask in cushion cut halo rings.
4. Setting labour
| Work | Cushion solitaire | Cushion halo |
|---|---|---|
| Stones to set | 1 | 31โ51 |
| Head | Built to the girdle outline | Halo drawn to the stone's exact ratio |
| Where cheap shows | Prong seating, shank thickness | Uneven halo spacing, visible gap |
| When it shows | Years later | Immediately, though hard to name |
A stock halo head fitted to a stone it was not drawn for is the commonest saving, and it produces the uneven spacing that makes a ring look subtly wrong. This is the same theme as where cheap shows on a ring โ the money comes out of the bench, not the stone.
From our bench in Surat
If we are undercut on a cushion quote, it is one of three things nine times out of ten: the other stone is crushed ice and ours is not, the other stone is deeper than ours, or the halo melee is unmatched. All three are legitimate ways to make a cheaper ring and none of them is disclosed anywhere, because there is nowhere on a certificate to disclose them.
Our own concession stands: we publish carat and grades on our product pages, and not faceting style, not millimetres, not depth percentage, not melee grade. On a cushion those four are the purchase. Ask us for all of them, and ask whoever you are comparing us against. Whoever answers without hesitating has the stone in front of them.
What you can safely decline
- High colour in a warm setting. The biggest free saving on this shape โ see how far down the colour scale you can go.
- Clarity above VS2 on crushed ice. The faceting is already doing that job.
- Round carat figures. 1.90 rather than 2.00 saves real money and changes nothing visible.
- Platinum, on a budget. 14k white gold with good rhodium work looks the same; put the difference in millimetres.
- Brand premium. Distinct from craft premium โ the difference is worth understanding before paying either.
What to ask before comparing two quotes
- Faceting style, named: crushed ice, chunky or hybrid.
- Length, width and depth in millimetres.
- Depth percentage.
- Symmetry and polish marks, since there is no cut grade on a fancy shape.
- On a halo: melee colour grade and whether it is matched.
- Whether the halo is drawn to this stone or a stock head.
- Metal weight in grams and shank thickness at the base.
- Rotating video in ordinary indoor light.
Keep reading
Why two emerald cuts with the same 4Cs cost different money
Frequently asked questions
Why is one cushion cheaper than another with the same 4Cs?
Usually faceting or depth. Crushed ice stones are cheaper to cut and permit lower grades; deep stones face up smaller for the same weight. On a halo ring, unmatched melee is the third common explanation. None of the three appears on a grading report.
Are cushion cuts cheaper than round diamonds?
Per carat, generally yes. In practice the saving is smaller than it appears, because cushions are cut deep and face up smaller for the weight. Compare millimetres and finished rings rather than per-carat rates.
Is a chunky cushion worth paying more for?
If you want that look, yes โ it is genuinely harder to source and needs a better stone, so the premium is real rather than invented. If you have no strong preference, crushed ice gives you more size for the money and there is nothing wrong with taking it.
Is there a cut grade for cushion cuts?
No. Laboratories grade cut only on round brilliants. A cushion report gives symmetry and polish separately and says nothing about proportion, faceting style or light performance, which is why the certificate explains so little of the price on this shape.
What is the single best saving on a cushion ring?
Buying a lower colour grade when the setting is yellow or rose gold and the faceting is crushed ice. Two or three grades disappear entirely into the metal and the facet pattern, and the money moves straight into face-up size, which is what this shape actually needs.
Ask us the eight questions
We will answer every one for any cushion we quote, and we would encourage you to put the same list to whoever else you are considering.
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